Pik Botha

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Not to be confused with P. W. Botha.

Pik Botha
South African Ambassador to the United States
In office
30 July 1975 – 11 May 1977
Prime MinisterB.J. Vorster
Preceded byJohan Samuel Frederick Botha
Succeeded byDonald Bell Sole
Personal details
Born
Roelof Frederik Botha

(1932-04-27)27 April 1932
South Africa
Political partyNational (until 1997)
Spouses
Helena Susanna Bosman
​
​
(m. 1953; died 1996)​
Ina Joubert
​
(m. 1998)​
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Pretoria
OccupationDiplomat and politician
ProfessionLaw

Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha,

first non-racial general election in 1994
, he served under Mandela as Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs from 1994 to 1996.

Botha was nicknamed 'Pik' (short for pikkewyn, Afrikaans for 'penguin') because of a perceived likeness to a penguin in his stance, accentuated when he wore a suit.[3]

He was not related to Prime Minister (later State President) P. W. Botha, under whom he served as foreign minister for 17 years.[4]

Early life

Botha was born at Rustenburg in the Transvaal,[5] to Roelof Frederik Botha and Maria Elizabeth Dreyer. At the age of four, he was struck by

Barberton, Transvaal, and his mother vowed that if he survived, he would become a church minister.[6]

Botha attended Paul Kruger Primary School, where his father was principal. He excelled in high school, becoming chairman of the debating society and officer in the school cadets.[6] Botha was also a writer of both prose and poetry in Afrikaans, and his writing supplemented his salary in his early years as a diplomat.[5] In his first year studying law at the University of Pretoria, a theologian explained to him that God would not expect him to keep his mother's promise to become a church minister.[6][7]

Diplomat and lawyer

Botha began his career in the South African foreign service in 1953, serving in Sweden and West Germany.[5] From 1963 to 1966, he served on the team representing South Africa at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the matter of Ethiopia and Liberia v. South Africa, over the South African occupation of South-West Africa (now Namibia).[5]

In 1966, Botha was appointed legal adviser at the Department of Foreign Affairs, in which capacity he served on the delegation representing South Africa at the United Nations from 1967 to 1977.

General Assembly and, over the ensuing years, the country was excluded from official participation in virtually all of the UN's organs and agencies.[9]

Politician

In the elections of

B. J. Vorster. He continued to represent Westdene for the remainder of his political career.[10]

Botha entered the contest to be the leader of the National Party in 1978. He was allegedly considered Vorster's favourite and received superior public support among whites (We want Pik!) but withdrew after criticism concerning his young age, lack of experience (having spent 16 months as foreign minister) and alleged liberal beliefs as opposed to the ultra-conservative NP machinery (in which he lacked a significant position), instead throwing his support behind

P. W. Botha, who was ultimately elected.[11]

In 1985, Botha helped to draft a speech that would have announced common decision-making on all levels in a single constitutional unit and a formula for bringing about the release of Nelson Mandela, but this draft was rejected by P. W. Botha.[12]

The next year, he stated publicly (during a press conference in Parliament, asked by German journalist Thomas Knemeyer) that it would be possible for South Africa to be ruled by a black president provided that there were guarantees for minority rights, but was quickly forced to acknowledge that this position did not reflect government policy.[13] Botha recalled in 2011 that he had been "severely reprimanded and almost fired" over his remarks.[14] In early 1986 he was also an instrumental figure in the South African government's negotiations with the Commonwealth Eminent Persons' Group (EPG). Although the Group's mission was aborted after the South African Military launched cross-border raids on ANC bases on 19 May, in the preceding months Pik Botha had engaged in extensive talks with the Group about a possible path to negotiations, including calls for a suspension of violence and the unbanning of the ANC.[15]

Throughout 1988 Botha was instrumental in lengthy peace talks between South Africa, Cuba, and the People's Republic of Angola aimed at ending the South African Border War. On 13 December 1988, Botha and Defence Minister Magnus Malan ratified the Brazzaville Protocol, which led to the effective cessation of hostilities in that conflict.[16]

Namibian independence

On 22 December 1988, Botha signed the

United Nations headquarters in New York City which led to the implementation of Security Council Resolution 435, and to South Africa's granting of independence to Namibia.[16]

On 21 December 1988, Botha, with a 22-strong South African delegation from Johannesburg, was initially booked to travel to the Namibian independence ratification ceremony in New York on Pan Am Flight 103 from London. Instead, the booking was cancelled as he and six delegates took an earlier flight, thereby avoiding the fatal PA103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.[17]

National unity

Botha subsequently served as Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs in South Africa's first post-apartheid government from 1994 to 1996 under President

Groote Schuur Minute, and was highly impressed by Mandela's knowledge of Afrikaner history.[14]

Botha became deputy leader of the National Party in the Transvaal from 1987 to 1996. He retired from politics in 1996 when

F. W. de Klerk withdrew the National Party from the government of national unity.[19][20]

In 2000, Botha declared his support for President Thabo Mbeki.

In 2013, Botha expressed criticism for the government's affirmative action policies saying that the South African government of 1994 would never have reached a constitutional settlement with the ANC had it insisted on its current affirmative action programme.[21] In an interview on affirmative action, Botha publicly declared that he had never been a member of the ANC, and would not join under its current policies.[22]

On 12 December 2013, Botha appeared on the BBC's Question Time, hosted in Johannesburg, discussing the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela.[23]

Personal life

Botha married Helena Bosman in 1953, with whom he had two daughters, Anna Hertzog and the artist Lien Botha as well as two sons, the rock musician

SABC.[5][28]

Botha died of natural causes at his home in Pretoria on 12 October 2018 at the age of 86.[29][30]

Awards

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roelof Frederik Botha.

References

  1. ^ "Apartheid-era foreign affairs minister Pik Botha has died". TimesLive. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  2. ^ "Opinion: FW de Klerk was a pragmatist – not a man driven by ideology". The Independent. 11 November 2021. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  3. ^ A smart penguin, Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The Spectator, 7 April 1984, page 9
  4. ^ Funteriano, Andre (12 October 2018). "Explainer: Are you confusing Pik Botha with PW Botha? Meet both". briefly.co.za. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Van der Vat, Dan (12 October 2018). "Pik Botha obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  6. ^ a b c Pik Botha – waves of politspeak janiallan.com. 24 January 2014
  7. ^ Vat, Dan van der (12 October 2018). "Pik Botha obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  8. ^ "New Permanent Representative of South Africa Presents Credentials". United Nations Photo. 15 October 1974. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  9. ^ "United Nations: History and Present Status". Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Republic of South Africa. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  10. ^ Donaldson, Andrew (12 October 2018). "Pik Botha: A good man working for a bad government". news24.com. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  11. ^ SOUTH AFRICA: The Not-So-Favorite Choice, Time, 9 October 1978
  12. ^ The Rubicon revisited, Hermann Giliomee, Politicsweb, 20 August 2008
  13. ^ Apartheid still spits in face of ANC, The Star, 14 March 2013
  14. ^ a b "FROM THE ARCHIVES | What I've learnt: Pik Botha". Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  15. ^ "South Africa: Pik Botha letter to co-Chairmen of the Commonwealth Group of Eminent Persons (Commonwealth Group's 'possible negotiating concept') ["if the South African Government does move along the lines suggested... and violence continues or increases.. | Margaret Thatcher Foundation". www.margaretthatcher.org. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  16. ^ a b Cuba, Angola, South Africa Sign Accord, The Washington Post, 14 December 1988
  17. ^ Lockerbie and the conspiracy theories, The Daily Telegraph, 20 August 2009
  18. ^ Mtshali, Samkelo (13 October 2018). "News of #PikBotha's death draws mixed reaction in political arena". iol.ca.za. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  19. ^ "South Africa shaken by sudden resignation of De Klerk's party". The Irish Times. 10 May 1996. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  20. ^ Madisa, Kgothatso (12 October 2018). "Pik Botha one of 'leading personalities in SA politics' – De Klerk". Sowetan Live. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  21. ^ ANC broke AA agreement, says Pik Botha, Fin24, 16 August 2013
  22. ^ Regstel-aksie ‘tref swartes ergste’, Beeld, 16 August 2013 (in Afrikaans)
  23. ^ BBC Question Time in South Africa: Who's Who, The Daily Telegraph, 12 December 2013
  24. ^ a b "Pik Botha: What an honour to know this man | IOL Business Report". Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  25. ^ "SA prodigy, Pik Botha's 43yo grandson, to lead Silicon Valley's top VC firm". Fin24. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  26. ^ "Pik Botha's last days recalled by family". Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  27. ^ "Helena Botha, Wife of South African Minister, Dies After Long Illness". AP NEWS. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  28. ^ tinashe (23 April 2012). "Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pik Botha, marries Ina Joubert, ex-journalist of the SABC, on his birthday in Pretoria". South African History Online. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  29. ^ "Former foreign affairs minister Pik Botha dies". News24. 12 October 2018.
  30. ^ "Key apartheid figure Pik Botha dies". BBC. 12 October 2018.
  31. ISBN 9780869752807 – via Internet Archive
    .

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Pik Botha.
Political offices
Preceded by
Minister of Foreign Affairs

1977–1994 		Succeeded by
Alfred Nzo


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